Women's Rowing Races at Big Ten Double Duals
April 16, 2005 | Women's Rowing
Wisconsin's No. 14 women's varsity openweight eight fell to No. 2 Michigan and No. 6 Michigan State, but the UW's second varsity eight and varsity four continued its winning ways with victories over both Big Ten powers at the Big Ten Double Dual, Saturday. Racing took place at Buren Park on Belleville Lake and included Iowa in some of the events with the Badgers.
Winds were variable throughout the racing, including everything from a crosswind, no wind, a tailwind and a headwind facing the crews, but they were never strong. All in all, it was a beautiful sunny day, but the weather brought out the motor boats, so there was boat wake on the course in the afternoon.
In racing against Michigan, the Badgers won in the second varsity eight, varsity four, novice eight and novice four, but fell in the varsity eight and second varsity four. The teams raced twice in the second novice eight, with the Wolverines finishing higher in the morning and the Badgers overtaking UM in the afternoon.
Against Michigan State, the Badgers took the second varsity eight, varsity four and second varsity four, but dropped races in the varsity eight, novice eight and second novice eight.
An injury to senior Shannon Gedman forced the Badgers to adjust all its varsity boat lineups, but head coach Bebe Bryans was impressed with how the UW handled the late changes.
'We had to make some lineup changes in the varsity boats from top to bottom because Shannon Gedman couldn't race today. Every boat had a little different lineup, but they handled it really well and didn't let it deter their performance at all so they used it to help them grow better.'
Wisconsin went head-to-head with Michigan State in most of the morning races. Despite that, the Badgers opened with its novice four, defeating both Michigan and Iowa in the opener. The second novice eight followed, with the UW finishing behind Michigan State and Michigan. The Badgers also fell in the morning novice eight to Michigan State, then finished second behind Michigan in the second varsity four. The UW lost by 5.5 seconds in the race, but outraced the Spartans by nearly 22 seconds in the race.
Races with the Badgers' top three boats finished the morning, as the UW varsity four took a 1.7 second win over Michigan State with a 7:11.2 clocking. Michigan was third in 7:13.9. In the second varsity eight, the Badgers clocked a 6:33.4 to defeat MSU by 4.7 seconds. In the final morning race, the Spartans went 6:24.4 over 2,000 meters to best the Badgers' 6:29.9.
In the afternoon, the Badgers again won the novice four race, with Iowa taking second an Michigan third in a reversal of the second and third places. The Badgers showed improvement in the second novice eight, falling again to Michigan State, but taking second ahead of Michigan after falling to the Wolverines in the morning.
The UW novice eight beat the Wolverines, then placed second in the second varsity four behind Michigan, but ahead of MSU. In the varsity races, the UW again won the varsity four, timing 7:16.4 and winning by 5.7 seconds over Michigan and 6.8 seconds over Michigan State. The UW second varsity eight beat Michigan by seven seconds in the second-to-last race of the day, while the varsity eight finsihed just three seconds behind the No. 2-ranked varsity eight in the nation in Michigan. The Wolverines won in 6:29.8, while the Badgers finished in 6:32.8.
'It was a really good day for us, overall,' Bryans said. 'We're still so early in our season that every time we get to race it's a chance to get better and hopefully not take any steps back and I think we did that today. We started the morning a little shaky. In the varsity eight we rowed with a lot of heart, but not as much technique as was needed. In the afternoon, we made a really good turnaround and executed both our technique and our race plan much better so it was a really good learning experience. The varsity four and the second varsity eight raced great. They got better and better as the racing went along, so they are pretty pumped and excited for the ne:xt couple of weeks.
'For the novices, this was their first race. The morning was not quite as strong as we were hoping for, but again technically they were able to really make some great changes for the afternoon, get a little better compusure and go. All in all a really great race against top-flight crews. We're there, and it is just a matter now of getting on the water and continuing to make the improvements that we need to make.
'All in all a good day. We are looking forward to rowing next weekend and our boathouse grand opening.'
